Blog Posts

Split your cmder window into multiple panels

cmder is my go-to shell for Windows. Up until recently, I was unaware that it could be split into multiple panels. There doesn't seem to be a menu option to do it, but it’s easily done with these commands (which, yes, I need to look up every time). Split the window horizontally (left/right split): cmd -new_console:s…

Published

Fix Error 0x80072EE7 on Windows 10

I just installed the Windows 10 October 2018 update and was hit with an issue that Microsoft Store and Edge wouldn't connect to the internet. Dreaded error 0x80072EE7. Tried repairing etc. as suggested around the web, but the issue for me turned out to be that I didn't have IPv6 enabled in my network adaptor settings.…

Published

UX Snippets: Avoid mismatching instructions and actions

Money Dashboard is an excellent app. Apart from when it’s telling me that I've gone over my monthly coffee budget. Or when it gives instructions that don't match what you see on screen. It’s not a huge deal since it’s pretty obvious what the intention is, but it’s just one more little mental leap that the user has to…

Published

The horrible UX of the National Lottery website messaging system

Yes, I'm one of those fools that plays the lottery. Seeing as there’s no way I'm going to queue at the supermarket to get a paper version of my could-be-worth-millions lottery ticket, that means I have to suffer the official website if I want to play. There are a fair few issues with it but I'm going to be…

Published

Death of a Team

Q: What’s the fastest way to run a project into the ground? A: Ask the team how long it'll take, then give them a shorter amount of time to complete it. Recursive Failure Once upon a time, I worked on a project that had the stink of death about it. It was old code, had dozens of hacks scattered throughout, known bugs…

Published

Authorize Your Azure AD Users With SignalR

As with pretty much everything in the ADAL packages, this is something that seems like it should be pretty straight-forward, but isn't. Before we go on to SignalR, we need to have a look at how we access a Web API endpoint that requires authentication from JavaScript. If you're already familiar with AD and bearer…

Published

Get Your Web API Playing Nicely With SignalR on OWIN with Autofac

Niche, right? Yes. But this has caused me a day of headaches so posting here to save anyone else from the pain. WebAPI Say we already have Autofac set-up with your WebAPI. So we have something like this: var builder = new…

An Email To Revolut Customer Services

Hi, Just some background for context: My partner and I got Revolut cards to come to the US last week. We'd both tried to use the cards online to verify they'd work (to pay for the ESTA fees) and all seemed to be well. At the airport, I tried to use the card to pay for food and it failed due to an incorrect PIN. My…

Published

Switch Out Your Raygun API Key Depending on Web API Cloud Configuration

Raygun is an excellent tool that lets you know about more errors in your app than you would ever dare to fear were present. Configuration is easy: install the NuGet package, add a couple of lines to your web.config and you’re ready to go. When done, your config file will include: <section name="RaygunSettings" …

Published

Get Bluetooth Working on Windows 10 on Mac Book Pro

This worked for me; it might not work for you. Remember I'm just same random guy on the internet so I take no responsibility for anything that happens to your machine. Okay? The Problem As yet (5th Aug 2015) there’s no official support from Apple for Windows 10 running through Boot Camp. So, when I upgraded from…

Published